Candidate filing week has passed. And that
means we now know for sure who aspires to wear a robe on the
benches of Washington’s courts.
Locally, there are candidates from the Kitsap peninsula running
for judge on not only the county’s superior court bench, but also
for the court of appeals and the Washington State Supreme Court.
Here’s a brief guide to all of our judicial candidates:
Port Orchard lawyer Bruce Danielson, who ran a
close race for county prosecutor last year and has also run for
judge in Kitsap, made a surprise entrance into a race for state
supreme court justice against Steven Gonzalez of Seattle, on the
last day of election filing.
Gonzalez was appointed to the eighth seat aboard the nine-seat
state supreme court by Gov. Chris Gregoire in November.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/jan/09/gonzalez-joins-washington-state-supreme-court/
Sheryl Gordon McCloud, who lives on Bainbridge
Island and is a longtime appellate lawyer, announced far prior to
filing week her intent to seek seat number nine on the state
supreme court, which is being vacated by retiring justice Tom
Chambers.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/mar/14/bainbridge-island-woman-to-run-for-state-supreme/
She has three opponents: Bruce Hilyer, a King County Superior
Court judge, John W. Ladenburg Sr., former Pierce County executive
and Richard Sanders, former state supreme court judge.
The most crowded race involving Kitsap County candidates comes
in the local division of the court of appeals — the court
sandwiched between the lower superior court and the higher state
supreme court.
Longtime Court of Appeals Judge David Armstrong is retiring this
year, creating the vacancy. Six candidates, two of which are from
Kitsap, are vying to take his place.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/jan/07/longtime-kitsap-lawyer-retires-as-appeals-court/
Pamela “Pam” Loginsky, of Port Orchard, is a
former Kitsap County deputy prosecutor who works for the state’s
prosecutor’s association.
Thomas “Tom” Weaver, of Bremerton, is a private
attorney who runs a law firm handling mostly criminal defense.
The four other candidates appear to call Thurston County home,
according to the Olympian newspaper. They include, Thomas Bjorgen,
who recently worked as a land use hearings examiner; Michael Lynch,
head of the state attorney general’s office’s tort claims division;
Jim Foley, an Olympia lawyer who has run for state supreme court
before; and retired Democratic state representative Brendan
Williams, also of Olympia.
Of the eight judges on Kitsap County Superior Court, seven won’t
face an opponent this fall, including Kevin Hull (former Kitsap
deputy prosecutor) and Steve Dixon (longtime Port Orchard
attorney), both of whom were recently appointed to the seats by
Gov. Chris Gregoire.
The one race that is contested — the seat that Judge M. Karlynn
Haberly is retiring from — has bloated to four candidates:
Jennifer Forbes, who commutes to Tacoma, where
she is a partner at the law firm McGavick Graves;
Bill Houser, defense attorney currently working
in the Kitsap County Office of Public Defense.
Karen Klein, a Bainbridge attorney and chief
executive officer and general counsel of Silver Planet, Inc., a
senior health care concierge service.
Rob MacDermid, a Navy veteran and general
practice lawyer.
The Kitsap Sun will be keeping close tabs on these races in the
months ahead. Stay tuned.
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